The Fight for Light
by DigiDestinedJulia
Summary: TK and Davis fight a lot, but will their friendship last when put to the ultimate test?
1. TK

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon! Don't sue!  
  
I was sitting in math class the other day, dreaming of Kari like I usually did, when I was suddenly called upon to say the answer to "X." I was totally unprepared, and managed to get myself detention for not paying attention.  
  
After school, I walked into the Detention Room, and whom should I see there but Davis. He waved when I walked in. You see, recently, Davis and I have become better friends than we used to. We used to fight a lot. It was mostly over Kari. We were both in love with her. Actually, I should say, we're both STILL in love with her. At least, I'm still in love with her.  
  
Anyway, I sat down next to him. "What are you in for?"  
  
"Playing soccer inside," he said, laughing, "Broke another window!"  
  
I laughed, "How many does that make for you now? Ten?"  
  
"Something like that!"  
  
"Mr. Takaishi, Mr. Motamiya, be quiet!" the teacher yelled at us. We shut our mouths after that, but we still played with a little piece of paper that was folded up several times. When our time was up, we walked to our lockers together.  
  
"So, Takaishi, what you doing after school?" Davis asked, grabbing his coat from his locker.  
  
"Nothing, why?" I asked, pulling my hat on.  
  
"I hear there's a good horror flick going on at the theater. You want to go see it? Its rated R, but my cousin sells the tickets there, and he'll let us in."  
  
"Sorry, I'll have to pass. I have a lot of homework tonight."  
  
"Right. We'll do it some other time. See you tomorrow, Takaishi!"  
  
"See you tomorrow, Motamiya!"  
  
I was walking past Sora's flower shop on my way home when I saw Kari inside. She was behind the counter with Sora. I wondered why, so I stepped in.  
  
"Hey TK!" She shouted to me as the door shout behind me.  
  
"Hi TK," Sora said, arranging a group of flowers without looking up.  
  
"Hi. So, you working here now, Kari?" I asked leaning on the counter.  
  
"Yeah. I need the money. Sora's mom said I could have the job."  
  
"Great."  
  
"Hey, TK, you hungry?"  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
Stepping out from the counter, Kari said, "I'm just about done here, you want to go have some pizza or something?" She gave me those eyes. When she does that, I can't resist! I'd do anything for those eyes. And if she asked me to do something, you know there is now way I'm NOT going to do it.  
  
"Sure."  
  
When she was done, we walked down to Tony's Pizza, a small pizza place around the corner that the Digidestined were notorious for visiting at least twice a week. We sat down, and ordered a large pizza.  
  
Just as we were enjoying ourselves, I noticed Davis walk in........  
  
  
  
So, how'd I do? Liking it so far? If not, you don't have to hang around for the next chapter, but if you do, why not read more? (If the next chapter's even up yet) Also R&R! (Note: Any flames will be laughed at hysterically! You might even get mentioned in my other fic, "Anime Chat") 


	2. Davis

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, yadda yadda yadda...  
  
I was mad. I wasn't mad that much about TK lying to me. It was more that he would lie to me about her. If he was going out with her, then he should've told me. What's more, SHE should've told me, instead of letting me find out like this. I stormed over to their table.  
  
"Look, Davis, it's not what you.."  
  
I didn't let him finish. I grabbed him by his shirt and threw him to the floor. "Why didn't you tell me?" I roared.  
  
"Tell you what?"  
  
"Davis! Stop it!" Kari said, standing up, but I couldn't hear her through my rage. I know now that it was a pretty stupid thing for me to do, but at the time, I couldn't help but fight. Sometimes, I just can't control my anger.  
  
I immediately jumped on TK and started pummeling him, but I was unexpectedly flipped off. I underestimated his strength. I jumped up, but he was up before me. I took the offensive side and rushed at him. He jumped aside, and I crashed into the table behind him. I think I hit my head on something, because I blanked out.  
  
When I woke up, I was in Kari's house on her couch with a damp cloth on my head. When I looked up, I could see Gatomon looking down at me.  
  
"I think he's awake now."  
  
I'm sorry it's so short, but this is really all that Davis could narrate for the moment. Since I'm going to be so busy during the Holidays, expect the next chapter sometime in mid-January. Happy Holidays Everyone! 


	3. Kari

Disclaimer: Yadda yadda yadda, I don't own Digimon.  
  
This chapter's definitely for you Takari lovers out there!  
  
  
  
When Davis fell through the table at the pizza place, I was surprised. I didn't think he'd pass out that easily. TK and I picked him and dragged him back to my place. I made Gatomon watch him for me so I could talk to TK.  
  
"What was that all about?" I asked him after we had set Davis up on our couch and sat in kitchen on the counter.  
  
"That? I'm not exactly sure. I had told him that I was busy after school, so I knew he'd be mad at me for lying, but I didn't know he'd take a swing at me."  
  
"TK, you know Davis. He can be very hot-headed sometimes." We were quiet for quite awhile. "TK, do you think it's about me?"  
  
"Maybe, but I thought he had given up on you."  
  
"I don't think so. I think somewhere deep inside him he'll never let me go." I looked at him through the door, sleeping on the couch, and smiled lightly. No matter how stupid he could be sometimes, he was still helpless and sweet at heart. If we had met under different circumstances and he hadn't come on to me so much, I might've had a crush on him, though that will never happen now.  
  
TK watched me look at him. "Kari?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"If the choice was between the two of us, who would you choose?"  
  
I looked back over at him, because I wasn't quite sure what he meant at first, but when my eyes met his, I understood at once. I stared into his deep, blue eyes, and became lost in them. My mind went blank, and I was at a loss for speech.  
  
Without quite knowing what was going on, I started to lean in. A single thought flashed through my mind, "What am I doing? Am I going to kiss him?" I had never kissed anyone before, and I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I just let instinct take over. As I was just about at lip touch, I heard Gatomon from the couch say "I think he's waking up!"  
  
I lost my nerve and accidentally fell off the counter.  
  
  
  
Sorry, another short chapter. I hope you enjoy it, anyway. Sorry if the ending disappointed the Takari lovers, but it had to be that way. Keep reading! By the way, if you haven't noticed, the narration is going TK, Davis, and then Kari and will probably remain that way, unless I decide to change the order, which is unlikely. Expect another chapter soon, though! Oh, yeah, review it, if you would! I'd like to know what you guys are thinking! 


	4. TK

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon! Don't sue, man! Oh, by the way, this chapter's rated PG for mild language. Blame TK for that part.  
  
  
  
When Kari was leaning in, I knew exactly what was going on, so I did the same. "What am I doing?" I thought, "Am I really going to kiss her?" I had never kissed anybody, so I was a little excited that she was going to be the first. Then, I heard Gatomon from the couch say "I think he's waking up!"  
  
"Damn!" I thought to myself as Kari fell off the counter, "He's waking up! Why couldn't he wait for two more seconds?!"  
  
Kari got herself up and walked to the couch where Davis was sitting up, blinking. I grudgingly jumped off the counter and followed her.  
  
"What happened?" Davis asked when he saw us.  
  
"You fell through a table and went unconscious." Kari said, going to get a washcloth.  
  
"We've been banned from that pizza place for life," I said, laughing to make it seem like I wasn't raging mad like I really was at the moment.  
  
"I fell through a table?" he asked, still a little dazed and touching the giant, baseball shaped lump on his head.  
  
"Broke it clean through with that rock hard head of yours." I replied.  
  
Kari came back with a washcloth and gave it to Davis, "Does your head hurt?"  
  
"Yeah…." He looked at me for a second, then looked away, obviously still mad.  
  
"Do you want something to drink, or something?" Kari asked, concerned.  
  
"No, thanks." He said, getting up. "I think I'll just go home."  
  
"Do you want me to go with you?"  
  
"No thanks, Kari. I'll go by myself." He opened the door, went through, slamming it on his way out.  
  
When he was gone, Kari turned to me, "He's mad."  
  
"I better go after him." I said, heading for the door. I looked back at her, "See you later."  
  
"Yeah, bye." I didn't want to leave her, but I knew I should try and make amends with Davis. I left and ran down the stairs to try and catch up to him. He was about to leave the building when I grabbed him from behind.  
  
"Davis! What's wrong?"  
  
"Oh, like you don't know," he said, pushing me away.  
  
"Honestly, Davis, I don't. Does this have to do with the movie thing?"  
  
"Do you think I really care if you lie to me? I've lied to you thousands of times!"  
  
"You have?"  
  
"What gets me is that you would lie to me just so you could go out with…" he paused, "Forget it, man! I don't need this!" He pushed me out of the way and left, just in time to catch the bus.  
  
I decided not to go back to Kari just then. I wasn't sure what I would tell her even if I did go back. I went home, instead.  
  
"TK, what's wrong?" Mom asked me when I got home.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, it's nothing, Mom. I have a lot of homework, I'm going to my room, OK?"  
  
"Sure." I probably wouldn't have told her about what was going on, anyway. I didn't want her mixed up with my affairs. I went to my room and plopped down on the bed.  
  
"Hi TK." Patamon said, flying over to me, "Long day?"  
  
"Yeah." I wanted to make it sound like I was fine, but Patamon knew me too well.  
  
"Something's wrong."  
  
"No, it's nothing."  
  
"Sure it is. You only sound like that when something's bothering you. TK, please tell me."  
  
I knew I couldn't keep anything from him, so I told him all about the day's misfortunes.  
  
"You shouldn't have lied."  
  
"I know that already. But how do I make it better? Davis won't talk to me!"  
  
"I don't know, but if you guys are really friends, you'll figure it out eventually."  
  
"Thanks, that REALLY helps."  
  
"Good."  
  
"I was being sarcastic…"  
  
I didn't sleep very well that night. I kept thinking about Davis and about my missed chance with Kari. When I DID get to sleep, I had horrible dreams where some mysterious digimon took Kari away and Davis refused to help me. It was very upsetting.  
  
The next morning, a Saturday, I woke up hearing my D-terminal beeping in the corner. I drowsily got up and looked at it. It was a message from Yolei.  
  
"'I think something's going on in the Digital World. There's some strange signal emanating from one spot. I'll attach the coordinates. I'd go check it out myself, but I have an eye appointment. I'm getting contacts! Wish me luck!' – Yolei"  
  
I was about to reply when a message came in from Cody.  
  
"'Sorry, I can't go either. Kendo practice. I missed the last two practices, and Grandpa's getting mad. Sorry.' – Cody"  
  
Davis' message came next.  
  
"'I'll go. Who's with me?' – Davis"  
  
I laughed and sent my own message.  
  
"'Short message, Motamiya! I'll go. See you there!' – TK" (A/N: I forgot how to spell Davis' last name! Sorry!)  
  
I waited to see who else was going, when another message from Davis came in.  
  
"'Fine, TS, come if you want to. See if I care.' – Davis"  
  
"Back to calling me names again, Davis?" I said aloud, getting up.  
  
"'Don't leave without me! I'll see you boys there!' – Kari"  
  
"Good, Kari's coming." I said to myself. I waited a few minutes to see if Ken would be coming, but he never replied. "Probably doesn't have his D- terminal on. Hey, Patamon! Get up!"  
  
I typed the coordinates Yolei sent in to my computer, and left. I arrived and met Kari there.  
  
"Hey. Where's Davis?"  
  
"He was here a couple minutes ago, but he went back to see if Ken was going. I think his D-terminal is broken, that's why he didn't reply."  
  
"Oh. So, what exactly is it that Yolei was talking about?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Doesn't look like there's anything here."  
  
At that moment, Davis and Veemon popped out from the TV behind me. "Oh, look who decided to show up! Forgive me if I don't jump for joy, TE."  
  
"Where's Ken?"  
  
"He's out doing public service for his school."  
  
"Just like him to be out helping the poor!" Kari said, smiling.  
  
"So, what's with this 'strange signal'?" Davis asked. Even as the words left his mouth, there was a sudden rumbling, and the ground shook, sending us all to the ground.  
  
"What was that?" I asked as the ground shook again. I looked back towards the woods. I saw something huge and dark making its way towards us, although I couldn't tell what it was. Suddenly, I saw something small and red flying towards us from the mysterious figure. "Look out!"  
  
  
  
There ya go! A nice long one for ya! Hope you enjoy, and look for the next chapter to come later! 


	5. Davis

Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon, never have, and never will!  
  
  
  
The ground started to rumble, and I fell over Veemon and hit my head on a rock. My head was throbbing really hard as I heard TK yell, "Look out!"  
  
I looked up in time to see a red fireball flying towards me. I rolled over as it missed my face by a hair. I could feel the heat on my face as it flew by.  
  
"What was that?" I asked, getting up. I could see Kari looking off in the distance.  
  
"I came from that direction," she said, pointing towards the far-off trees.  
  
As we all looked, the world around us started to go gray, and we could see the strange form off in the distance get closer. I could begin to make out what the shape looked like. It resembled the figure of a man, though his face was in shadow. The terrain around us began to swirl and change until we were no longer in the same place we had been before.  
  
"This is weird, Davis!" Veemon said as he stood beside me, "Just tell me, and I'll digi-volve."  
  
I hesitated, not quite sure what I should do. I didn't know what this strange man wanted, and I was scared.  
  
"It's so cold," Kari was shivering as she sat where she had fallen earlier. She looked scared. Gatomon came and sat next to her, claws extended in anxious wait as the dark man approached.  
  
As he got closer, we could see that he was huge! He was taller than a normal human, broader in the shoulders, with long arms and fingers. He wore a suit like the people I've seen in medieval movies, including a long cape. I still couldn't see his face, though, because he wore a mask of bright colors.  
  
"So, these are the famous digi-destined, eh?" he asked, stopping before us. "A pity. I was hoping more of you would come to my world. Well, now that you are here, what do you think of my wonderland?"  
  
This was the first chance I had to look around myself. The colors were bleak, dull and gray. In the distance were many snow-peaked mountains. I also noticed that it was very cold here. "It sucks!" I remarked.  
  
The strange man looked at me and laughed, "You do not like it then? Unfortunate that you will be staying here the rest of your lives."  
  
"What are you? Are you a digimon?" Kari asked, looking up at him.  
  
"A digimon? Far from it, my dear girl. I am more than a digimon; I am more than a human. I am equivalent to that of a god!" He spread his arms out, "All that you see is my domain, and now that you are here, you, too are a part of my domain!"  
  
"What do you want?" TK asked angrily.  
  
"That is for me to know, and you to not. Come! We shall go to my palace!" Before we had time to say, "Wait a second!" a cage formed around each of us, including the digimon. We were whisked away at a rush, and before I knew it, I could see a great castle loom in the distance. We were going at such a great pace; I barely had time to enjoy the scenery.  
  
We were dumped off in front of the castle. I started to complain, but before I knew what was happening, I was zapped into another room. It was some sort of prison. TK was there, too, but Veemon, Patamon, Gatomon and Kari were nowhere to be seen!  
  
"Where are we?" I asked TK.  
  
"I'm not sure. I think we're in some kind of jail."  
  
"Well, duh!"  
  
"Look, gogglebrain, we can either fight here, or work together to find a way out."  
  
"Fine. I looked around our surroundings. It was dark, dank, but very spacious. Shadows were everywhere, and I thought I saw something crawling around the shadows.  
  
"TK, look! There's something over there," I said, pointing to where the movement had been.  
  
TK got up, and boldly walked over to the dark corner, and grabbed the thing and pushed it into the light.  
  
It was a small boy, probably about eight years old, with dark brown hair. He was wearing a blue sweatshirt and green pants, and had a strange look in his eye that I could only describe as dull boredom.  
  
"Who are you?" TK asked him, still holding on to his sweatshirt.  
  
"My name is Ben. Let go of me, please," the tone in his voice reminded me of the look in his eyes, pure boredom.  
  
"Where are you from, Ben?" I asked as he fell to the floor when TK let go of him.  
  
"North Dakota. You're Japanese, aren't you?" he asked, looking at us with his dull eyes.  
  
"Yeah. How long have you been here?" TK asked, squatting down by him.  
  
"I'm not sure. I'd say it's been about five years by now."  
  
"Five years?" I fell backward onto my bottom as the shock hit me. "But how's that possible? You look like you're only about eight or so!"  
  
"I know. I've been like this ever since I came here."  
  
"How did you get here?" TK asked, looking straight into his eyes.  
  
"Alma brought me here," he said, getting himself up, "Me and Otamamon were brought here by her."  
  
"Woah, wait man! Let's get some things straight! You're a digi-destined too?" I was shocked and confused.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Who is Alma? We were brought here by a man." TK looked puzzled, like he was thinking things through, something I had a hard time doing when pressured.  
  
"You must have been brought here by Larzalere. Alma is his sister."  
  
"Tell us everything you know about them! It's important!" TK looked very worried, "One of our friends is missing, and she's probably with them!"  
  
"I hope she's strong-willed enough, then. They're very powerful, you know."  
  
I knew that it was going to be hard to get much information out of the little guy. "Start from the beginning, if you would, kid."  
  
Ben sat back up against a wall and began, "Larzalere said that he was born from two very powerful creatures from this world named Centro and Michiga. Of those two, three were born: Larzalere, Alma, and Unev. Unev was Larzalere's brother, and the two of them fought each other constantly. Larzalere was very cunning, and he killed Centro and Michiga so he could get the thrown. Unev wouldn't allow this, so the two held a duel to see who would be king, and who would be exiled into another world. Unev lost the fight, apparently. I'm not sure what the duel was, but Larzalere won, and Unev was abandoned somewhere far away. Alma didn't care who won, but went with whichever one won. When Larzalere took the thrown, he made every other creature here his slave, but after hundreds of years of slavery, he got bored. That's why he chose me to come and 'entertain' him. He sent Alma to the Digital World to find something worth torturing, and he found me. When I hadn't properly 'entertained' him, he sent me here, and I've stayed here ever since."  
  
"Wow, poor kid," I mumbled.  
  
"But wait, how did he know that we were digi-destined?" TK looked at Ben suspiciously.  
  
"Uh, sorry. I might of let it slip about you guys."  
  
"Great. Just great," TK grumbled, putting his chin on his hand.  
  
"How did he make you entertain him?" I asked.  
  
"He would make it seem like I was in different places. Happy ones, sad ones, scary ones. Things like that. When I refused to do it anymore, he got mad and sent me down here. He feeds on different emotions. Even when I'm down here, he still feeds on my emotions. That's why I've tried to stopped using mine."  
  
"I wonder what he's doing to Kari right now," TK said sadly.  
  
It was exactly what I was thinking at that moment.  
  
  
  
Strange turn of events, isn't it? Went from a sappy love story to an action adventure! Well, there's more in store, so hang on for the ride! R&R and tell me what you think so far! 


	6. Kari

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon in any way, nor do I intend to. I'm not getting paid for this, so don't even think about suing. Thank you, and R&R!  
  
  
  
When I woke up, I had a pounding headache. I really couldn't remember what had happened, or where I was. I look around myself, but only saw dark walls around me. I felt very cold.  
  
"Hello? Is anyone there?" I asked out into the darkness.  
  
A voice came from the shadows. "I am glad to see you awake, my dear Hikari." I peered into the darkness to try and see who it was, but I was disappointed when I figured it out.  
  
"It's you! Who are you, and what do you want with me?" I tried to back away from my captor as far as I could get. Now I could remember clearly. He was the strange man who had brought us here.  
  
"My, what beautiful eyes you have, Hikari," He came towards me, but I backed up more.  
  
"Get away from me! I know how to defend myself!" I looked around for something to throw at him, but nothing was within my reach.  
  
"Dear child, I do not want to harm you." He smiled at me, but I couldn't see his eyes because of the strange mask he wore. "I have an offer to make. I'd really like if you'd consider it."  
  
"What…. What kind of offer?"  
  
"When I first set eyes on you, I deemed you the most beautiful creature I had ever seen."  
  
"I hear that from a lot of boys, so what?"  
  
"Being king of all he sees is very nice, but after awhile, it begins to get lonely. I've always had my sister for company, but a king needs more than that. He needs," I got a strange feeling in my gut that his next words where intended for me, and wouldn't be good, "a queen."  
  
The thought sickened me. I wanted to get as far away from him as I possibly could, to go somewhere safe, but I knew I that escape would be very difficult.  
  
"Well, my lady, here's the question. How would you like to be the queen of this marvelous land?"  
  
I had to think the answer to THAT question through. If I said no, he might kill me. If I said yes, I'd die of disgust.  
  
After a moment of silence, he spoke to me, "I see that you are having difficulties in your decision making. Until you make up your mind, you can spend some time in isolation to think this matter through."  
  
Before I knew what was happening to me, I was in a dark cell, all alone. It was very cold, so I huddled up in a corner and decided to wait and see what would happen.  
  
  
  
Hey! Another chapter done! Too bad it was kind of short, but hey, I'M the writer! You got a problem with it? That reminds me, if you have any comments on the story so far or if you're reading it when it's finished and want to tell me what you think about it, send me an email at redwallfan101@yahoo.com! Thanks and hope to hear from you! 


	7. TK

Ya, don't own digimon, you all know that by now if you have been reading this at all. I'm sure you have, so I don't need to mention it so ya.  
  
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I looked up at the ceiling of the prison cell. I could see a window at the top, and I wondered how I could get myself up there. Davis was dozing off in the corner, and Ben just sat off away from us, watching me. I stood up and walked around a bit. My legs were stiff, and I was getting bored not doing anything. I'm not sure what hour of the night it was, but I could tell it was late.  
  
"What are you doing?" Ben asked, gazing at me with those odd eyes he had.  
  
"I'm looking for a foot-hold so I can climb up to that window," I answered, grasping on to a brick in the wall that was slightly out of place.  
  
"Don't even bother. I've tried that already."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm bigger than you, so I can reach higher up."  
  
"You still won't be able to reach the window."  
  
"Just watch me." I grabbed the brick and started to pull myself up. It was hard going, and I didn't get too far until I lost my grip and fell onto Davis, who promptly woke up and was crabby.  
  
"What are you doing, TF?"  
  
"I was trying to climb the wall, Goggle-head."  
  
"You couldn't climb your way out of a paper sack."  
  
"Well at least I don't get knocked out by a table in a pizza place."  
  
"If I hadn't been emotionally weakened by the fact that one of my best friends was lying to me…."  
  
"I didn't lie to you…"  
  
"OK then, you told me a falsehood!"  
  
"What's the big deal? So I didn't want to hang out with after school!"  
  
"You two have some issues." We both looked over at Ben, who had that cold look in his eyes. "You're fighting about such a trivial thing."  
  
"Lay off, kid! You wouldn't understand! This is big kid talk." Davis could be so rude sometimes.  
  
"If you ask me, and I know you didn't, I'd say that it would be very hard to tell that the two of you were friends." Ben sounded so sure of himself. That hit me hard. Maybe I wasn't such good friends with Davis as I thought I was.  
  
"Shut up, kid! You don't know us! You don't know what we're like and what we're not like! You don't know who our friends are! You don't know anything!" Davis sounded very upset. Obviously, the kid's words had had the same effect on him as they had on me.  
  
There was an awkward pause that lasted a few minutes. Each of us didn't want to say anything to the other. The silence started to get to me. "I wonder where Kari is. I hope she's OK."  
  
"Yeah, me too."  
  
It remained silent for a long time. I'm not sure how long, but it felt like a couple days. Every so often, one of us would get up and pace, but no word was spoken among us. We ended up spending a lot of time sleeping as quiet boredom started to overtake us.  
  
Finally, after a few days of nothing, from the wall opened a door that we hadn't noticed before. A tall lady with flowing reddish brown hair stepped in. She could only be the one Ben had told us of. She had to be Alma.  
  
"Larzalere tells me that I'm here to pick up one of you. Which one of you is the one called Takeru?" Her voice was cold and chilling, and I didn't dare speak up. I looked over at Davis. He looked nervously back at me.  
  
Alma looked rather annoyed and repeated, "Which one of you is Takeru?" Ben stood up and pointed at me. I couldn't believe he had just done that! Gave me away to the enemy without a second thought.  
  
"Ah, the blonde kid, eh? Well, maybe this won't be a waste of my time after all. What a handsome kid you are, too." She grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out. The last thing I saw was Davis jump up and run towards me before the door closed.  
  
I was taken through hall after hall until I reached a room that was ill-lit and small. Alma threw me on the floor and I landed at the feet of our captor, Larzalere. He laughed and said, "So, Takeru, how was your stay in the dungeon? Fun?" I hated it when people patronize me, and I especially hated it when I was in a bad mood already. I looked away. "Nothing to say, Takeru? Well, I have someone here who would like to see you."  
  
As I looked up, I saw one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She was wearing a pink dress with a lot of frills and things, and she had long, brown hair and brown eyes. Suddenly, I realized something. I knew her, though I didn't realize who she was until a moment later.  
  
"Kari?"  
  
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Nice, short chapter. Very nice. Anyway, how do you like it so far? Send me reviews of it at redwallfan101@yahoo.com and tell me what you think! I'd really appreciate something to help me along! Thanks! 


	8. Davis

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing! Really, I don't!  
  
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I pounded on the door, screaming at the top of my lungs, "TK! YOU JERKS! WHAT'D YOU DO WITH HIM!" All the while, Ben sat staring at me. I turned on him. "Don't you even care?"  
  
"Should I?"  
  
"Of course! That was my best friend they just took away! They could be torturing him endlessly and I'm can't even help him!" I was actually close to tears at this moment, which is strange, considering what a cool and collected guy I usually am.  
  
"Perhaps, though it is better to just accept what has happened."  
  
"You're just as heartless as they are!" I said, with a final pound on the door before collapsing in a heap upon the ground.  
  
"Frankly, I envy him." For the first time, I actually heard a bit of sadness in his voice.  
  
"Why? He's probably dying right now."  
  
"If you had been in here as long as I have, you'd welcome a change of scenery, too."  
  
I looked over at him, and saw the tears in his eyes. A great wave of pity and guilt crossed over me. "I'm sorry. I guess I forgot that you've been here a lot longer than I have."  
  
Ben wiped his eyes with his sleeve and looked up at me. "Apology accepted."  
  
We sat there for quite a long time, and all I could think about was what a jerk I had been the last couple of days, especially to TK. I also wondered what had happened to Kari, Veemon, and all the rest of the digimon. At this point, I really wished Veemon were there. He always knew how to make me happy again, and I wasn't feeling very happy.  
  
Eventually, we got a bowl of food slid under a tiny space in the wall that I hadn't noticed before. The food wasn't very good, but I was hungry, so it would do for the time being. When we had cleaned the bowl out, I took it and tried to dig a hole in the floor with it, to no avail.  
  
"You can't dig out." Ben said quietly, watching my useless attempts. "The floor's magical. There's no escaping from here. They made sure of that."  
  
"Well, I don't believe that! And I'm going to keep trying to escape!" And I kept going, but after awhile, when I saw no progress on my hole, I began to despair.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - OK, it's short. Well, REALLY short! But there isn't really anything for Davis to do in that cell, other than try to escape. And there is no escaping from the cell. Honest, there isn't. But don't worry, faithful readers, the next chapter is on it's way, and should be finished soon. Things are just starting to get interesting! 


	9. Kari

Disclaimer: Well, I said it before, I'll say it again. I don't own Digimon. What do I own? Very little, in fact, but you can be sure that what I do own doesn't show up in this fic. Actually, the idea of this fic is mine, so please don't steal it. Unless, of course, you get permission first. But even so, I would rather like to read it before you post it anywhere, so... On with the story! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
I slowly opened my eyes. I could feel something prodding at me, and when I looked up, I backed away. It was a tall women I had never seen before, and she was frowning at me. Although, I do admit, she was an attractive lady; she had the kind of features someone like me could only wish for. Her hair was red and long, and she had deep brown eyes with long lashes.  
  
"So, this is the girl? That one girl Larzalere couldn't live without?" Her voice was cold and sarcastic. "Really, I don't know what he sees in you. You aren't even half as pretty as I am." She tossed back her hair in one of those "Oh, I am SO much better than you" gestures, then grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up. "Come on, His Royal Pain-in-the-butt wants to see you."  
  
I tried to resist at first, but gave up when I realized that I was no match for her. She was a lot stronger than I was. She half dragged me through the many halls of the mansion until we reached a small room, I think the dining room. The man I had met earlier, I could only assume he was Larzalere, turned to face me.  
  
"Ah, my dear Hikari. Have you considered my offer anymore?" He grinned.  
  
"I still won't agree to it." I said defiantly, although inside I was a nervous wreck.  
  
Larzalere looked at me and smiled. "I admire your bravery, Hikari, but I know that eventually, you will learn that life here would not be so bad. You see, time here has no meaning."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" I asked.  
  
"Well, you see, if you were to stay here, time would have no effect on you. You would not age, unless you were to wish for it. You could be younger, older, whatever you wanted. I have the power to control it. And I think that you would be much better with me if you were a little older..."  
  
He raised his hands, and his fingers glowed. I felt very strange as whatever he was doing to me was taking effect. Immediately I noticed that my hair was a whole lot longer, and my clothes seemed to be tighter on me.  
  
"Well, that won't do at all." He said, raising his hands again. Instantly, I was wearing a long, pink gown with white, elbow-length gloves. I got to admit, he had good taste in clothing.  
  
"What did you do!" I yelled.  
  
He smiled. "Dear Hikari, there is no need to shout. I have aged you, in your Earth years, to around 20. And I have the power to provide for you anything else you may desire. Other fancy clothes, flowers, a soft bed..."  
  
"What about freedom?" I asked. "Or my friends! Or my right age!"  
  
"Oh yes, I almost forgot about your friends." He said thoughtfully.  
  
"Where are they! What did you do with them! Why can't I see them!"  
  
"Do they really matter that much to you? They really didn't put up much of a fight for you. I don't know why you would want friends like that."  
  
"Please let me see them." I wanted to cry, or hit him. One of the two. I was feeling upset, angry, and violated.  
  
He took a good long look at me, before saying, "Will you or will you not be my wife."  
  
"No! I mean it, I won't marry you!" I was so sick of him asking me that.  
  
"Well, Hikari, here's the deal. You agree to stay with me forever, and your friends live. If you say no, I will take your friends one by one and KILL THEM IN FRONT OF YOU!" He was very angry now, and I could tell I was in trouble. "Alma! Go get one of the prisoners!"  
  
The lady who brought me here, Alma, had been standing in the back of the room the whole time, clearly bored by our conversation. She was startled when addressed to, and she stood up straight and asked, "Any particular one?"  
  
Larzalere looked me straight in the eye, considering it for a moment. "I know the perfect one. Why don't you bring me the one called Takeru, we'll start with him."  
  
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Wow, what's going to happen??? Can you guess? How will they get out of THIS crisis! Well, you just got to keep on reading, silly! And if the next chapter's not up yet, you can write to me at redwallfan101@yahoo.com and ask me all sorts of questions, although I'm not giving away any secrets about the plot! You could ask me about Ben's history, or the world of Larzalere and Alma, or even about the mysterious Unev! Go on, there's all sorts of things to discover! 


	10. TK

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon! - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - -  
  
I was absolutely bewildered! What was going on? Before I even had a moment to comtemplate it, I was grabbed by that Larzalere guy by the neck.  
  
"So, my dear Hikari, what will it be? Make your choice!"  
  
I didn't know what was going on, but I could tell Kari was upset. However, I couldn't really say anything because of Larzalere's hand over my throat.  
  
With tears in her eyes, Kari finally said, "All right, you win! I'll do anything you want, just let them all go!"  
  
He dropped me, and Alma dragged me away again. It was all going so fast that I only had time to say, "Kari, wait!"  
  
I was dragged through the halls again, but I never did go back to the prison cell. I was thrown out the door.  
  
"If you'll wait a few moments, your other friends will be here in a minute." Alma turned back and left me outside. I couldn't believe it! Why were they just letting us go?  
  
Momentarily, Alma returned with Davis and, surprisingly since he wasn't in our group to begin with, Ben. They were thrown out and the door slammed shut.  
  
"TK! I thought I'd never see you again! I thought you'd be killed or something!" It appeared as though Davis had forgiven me... at least a little bit.  
  
"Why is he here?"  
  
Ben gave me a cold look, but Davis actually stood up for him. "Don't be mad at him, TK. He's just a kid."  
  
Grudgingly, I didn't mention it further, although I still wondered why they let him go, too.  
  
We began walking around the edge of the castle, when a side panel shifted and our digital pals came tumbling out.  
  
"Patamon!"  
  
"TK!"  
  
"Veemon!"  
  
"Davis!"  
  
"Otamamon!"  
  
"Ben!"  
  
It was a warm reunion for all of us, and I swear that I saw a bit of color return to Ben's face.  
  
Now that we were all together again, we had to talk.  
  
"Davis, they have Kari under some kind of spell or something. She looks a lot older, too."  
  
"Dude... that's rough. How are we supposed to help her from out here?"  
  
"At least it's better than in that cell!" I kicked the dirt.  
  
"I know someone..." we all looked at Ben, who was holding Otamamon like he'd never let him go again. "Well, I think I do. Someone who could help us."  
  
"Who?" Veemon asked.  
  
"There's this guy. He lives a kind of far from here. I escaped... once, and found him. He tried to help me, but he wasn't strong enough."  
  
"Well, what makes you think he can help us now?" Patamon, in his usual spot atop my head, was skeptical.  
  
"He said that he was weakened by a spell and that he couldn't get the cure. If we helped him, he could help us."  
  
"Are you absolutely sure?" I asked.  
  
"Positive! And if not, I'm sure he could at least get us back here fast enough."  
  
"Dude, what're we waiting for?" Davis was overly excited. "Veemon! Digi- armor energize!"  
  
"Veemon armor digivolve to... Raidramon!"  
  
We all climbed onto Raidramon and, under Ben's direction, made our way to help... maybe.  
  
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OK, it's been awhile, I'm sorry, I just didn't have the time to write! But hopefully you liked this chapter! So, R&R! 


	11. Davis

Disclaimer: Nothing I own is Digimon.  
  
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Raidramon was tired. I could tell. I'm not sure how long we had been riding, but it seemed like a long time.  
  
"Davis, we're going in circles." Raidramon stopped and we climbed off.  
  
"It's all right, you did good. We might as well wait here anyway." I patted his head, and he de-digivolved back to Veemon.  
  
"Where are we?" TK looked around himself, like I was doing already.  
  
"Looks like a forrest?"  
  
"We're halfway there." Ben stood aways away from us. I swear, sometimes he seems so much like Cody it's scary.  
  
"HALFWAY! You've GOT to be kidding me! We spent all that time and we're only HALFWAY! How on earth did you get this far out the first time?!?" I mean, really... You can imagine how upsetting that was.  
  
"I don't know. I think he wanted me to escape. Some kind of hunt, or something."  
  
"Uh, Davis?"  
  
"What?" I turned around to face TK, and I could tell something was wrong.  
  
There was something... different... about him. The hat, that's what it was. It looked strange, like it was too big for him, and Patamon was having problems staying on his head. Then I noticed that my goggles were slipping down over my face. I pushed them back up.  
  
"What the heck? What's going on?"  
  
"I think we've been cursed. Remember how I said Kari looked older?" The hat was down over his eyes now. "I think this is the same kind of thing, only we're getting... younger."  
  
Ben walked over to us. "That's Larzalere's doing. He can change anything about a person. Anything at all, including age."  
  
"That dirty scoundrel! How dare he!" Right about now I wished I had some kind of belt or something, since my shorts were starting to get kind of baggy and too long.  
  
"How young do you think he's going to make us?"  
  
Ben studied us for a moment. "If I'm any judge, I'd say you looked about 10 right now."  
  
"And getting younger!" TK pushed his hat up, although it didn't do much for him anyway. It just flopped back down over his eyes again.  
  
"Hey, how come he's not changing?" I pointed at Ben.  
  
He shook his head. "I don't think he even knows I'm gone. He has a new toy now, so he's probably forgotten about me."  
  
I clenched my fist in anger. "That dumb Larzalere! He had no right to do this to us! What a creep!"  
  
"Aw, come on Davis!" Veemon laughed, "You're make a cute little kid!"  
  
"Oh yeah?" I pounced on him and we wrestled a bit, but he was stronger than me. Although, I would've beat him under normal circumstances.  
  
"Perhaps we can fix this when we find Newbear." Ben had told us earlier that the man we were looking for was named Newbear.  
  
"Well, then we should get going! Quick, before there's nothing left TO fix!" TK got up. "Patamon, let's go! Digi-armor Energize!"  
  
We all climbed on Pegasusmon and took off. It was easier than it was getting on Raidramon because we were all a bit smaller now.  
  
From up in the air, the forrest looked even worse than it did from the ground. It was all so bleak and gray. Ben wasn't used to flying, and he almost fell off once, although Otamamon (who was actually a rather quiet guy) grabbed him before he could fall too far.  
  
The only good news on the flight was that the "reverse aging process", as TK put it, slowed down so by the time that Ben finally said, "There it is!" we were only about 7.  
  
When we landed, I got my first good look at the dump where this Newbear guy lived. I've got to say, it was one of the ugliest piles of wood I've ever seen. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was just some wood planks laid over a hole in the side of a hill. Ben and Otamamon ran over to the front door and knocked.  
  
TK whispered to me, "Hey, you think this is a good idea?"  
  
"I have no idea. We won't know until we try..."  
  
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Hope you enjoyed this chapter! 


	12. Kari

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any way.  
  
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When TK was dragged away, I collapsed into a chair. I felt like dirt. Even less than dirt. I was marrying the dirt!  
  
"Really, Hikari, you'll see in time that it will not be as bad as you think. You'll have everything you could possibly hope for with me."  
  
I didn't even look at him. I couldn't. I didn't say anything, either.  
  
"When Alma comes back, I'll have her show you to your new room. I'm sure it will be to your liking."  
  
More silence.  
  
"Fine. If you won't speak to me, then I'll leave you for now. Dinner will be whenever you get hungry, dear." He walked out the door.  
  
I shuddered. It was almost more than I could bear! He called me 'dear'! I ran over to the door to try and escape, but it was locked. I felt the tears in my eyes start up again, and I sat back down again, just letting the tears run down my face. It was all I could do.  
  
Alma came back and took me down a few halls to what would be my room. She gave me a dirty look before pushing me in and locking the door.  
  
"Kari!"  
  
I turned around, and ran to go hug one of my best friends, someone I didn't think I'd ever see again. "Gatomon!"  
  
"Kari, I missed you so much! Hey, what happened to you?"  
  
"Don't ask, OK? What did he do with you?"  
  
"He took all of us to these cages and locked us in there. We met this other digimon in there, an Otamamon. He said there was some other kid around her somewhere. And then he took the others away and told me that he'd spare me to be your pet!" She scowled and bared her claws, and I had to remind her that I was still holding her and that her claws were sharp.  
  
"Kari, he said... he said that you were going to stay here. What did he mean?"  
  
I sat on the bed. "Oh, Gatomon, it's terrible! He was threatening to kill Davis and TK unless I... unless I married him!"  
  
"Kari, you didn't!"  
  
"I had no choice. I couldn't let him do that to them."  
  
"If I ever get my hands on that no-good, dirty, rotten..."  
  
"Gatomon, why can't you just digivolve? Then we could get out of here!"  
  
"No use... I've tried. I can't digivolve normally, and do you even have your D-terminal?"  
  
I hadn't realized it until now, but I didn't have it! I didn't even have my D3. "I don't. He must've taken everything I had. Even my camera's gone! Not that I'd want to take any pictures here..."  
  
We chit-chatted for awhile until I noticed that I was really hungry. I wasn't going to say anything since I really didn't want to have dinner with that Larzalere guy, but somehow, they knew. Alma came and got me and Gatomon and brought us to the dining room. I gasped when I saw the food. There was so much of it! Turkey with stuffing, ham, meatloaf, chicken noodle soup, beef soup, cheese soup, potato soup, mashed potatoes, twice baked potatoes, rolls, deviled eggs, steaming broccoli with cheese melted over it... I tried my best not to drool. It's like they had read my mind and prepared all of my favorite meals...  
  
I sat down at the end of the table, and Gatomon sat next to me. Larzalere sat across from me. Alma didn't join us for dinner. Larzalere told me that she had "important business to take care of", whatever that meant.  
  
"So, my Hikari, what do you think of this dinner?" I could feel him watching me, but at the moment I didn't really care since I was starving.  
  
"This is delicious!" I said between mouthfuls. I remembered my manners and slowed down a little. I couldn't believe how good it all tasted! I also couldn't believe how much I ate! I felt like a pig, but I didn't feel like I usually did when I had eaten too much.  
  
"How about dessert, Hikari?" I nodded to him, and he clicked his fingers.  
  
His servants made me jump when I first saw them. They looked like little black imps, and they snarled at me as they passed with the dessert. I immediately forgot them when I saw what dessert was!  
  
"Chocolate!" Not just chocolate... Every kind of chocolate you could possibly imagine! He must have really wanted me to like it there! As I ate, I noticed him get up and walk to the window. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't think he ate at all. I think he had just sat there watching me... Kind of creepy, actually...  
  
I heard him mutter something, but I couldn't tell what it was. He was doing something, though... The same kind of thing he did when he made me older, but it was different somehow.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Fixing something." He wouldn't answer any of my other questions, so I let the subject drop. Eventually, I decided to change the subject.  
  
"Why do you wear that mask?"  
  
"I have my reasons."  
  
"What do you look like without the mask?"  
  
"Do you really want to know, Hikari, or are you just asking to be nice?"  
  
I hesitated. "I'd like to know."  
  
"Then I will take it off for you, Hikari."  
  
I couldn't take my eyes off him as he took off that horrible mask...  
  
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Hooray! Another chapter is finally done! Hope you enjoyed it a lot! 


	13. TK

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon! No way!  
  
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Ben ran up and knocked on the door. We waited a few minutes, but there was no answer.  
  
"Maybe there's no one home." Wow, my voice sounded REALLY different!  
  
"There has to be..." Ben, followed by Otamamon, ran out of sight around the to the other side of the hill.  
  
"We should probably follow him." Davis was right, so we hiked up our pants and trudged along as fast as our baggy clothes would allow.  
  
When we got to where Ben had ran, we couldn't find him. "Maybe he went back to the other side." So, we walked around the hill again, but we still couldn't find him.  
  
"Oh great. We lost him!" Davis sat down and leaned against the front door. "What do we do now?"  
  
I didn't have a chance to respond. A trap door underneath Davis opened up, and he fell in! I ran over and looked down the hole. It was really long! I gulped and jumped in.  
  
It was pitch black. I couldn't see where I was going, but I knew I was sliding down some kind of tube, and I was going really fast. My hat flew off my head, but that was the least of my concerns. Who knew what was at the end of this tunnel! A man-eating beast? Sharp spikes? Maybe it didn't end at all! Fortunately for me, it was none of those things.  
  
I landed with a thump on the floor in some kind of basement. My hat came out the tube, too, and landed on my head. So did Patamon and Veemon. I had forgotten that we had left them up there.  
  
"Hey, you OK?" I tilted the hat back so I could see who was talking to me. It was only Davis.  
  
I pushed the digimon off of me and got up. "Yeah, I think so. What a ride!"  
  
"How do we get out of here?" Veemon asked.  
  
"Any doors?" Patamon suggested.  
  
"I don't know. It's too dark." Davis said.  
  
We got up and walked around for awhile, occasionally running into things or tripping over each other. Eventually, we did find a door, but it was locked.  
  
"Great. We're stuck here!" I sighed.  
  
"I'll find a way out!" Davis started pounding on the door. "Hey! HEY! Let us out!"  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"There has to be SOMEONE in there! Who could've set up a trap like that?" He was about to hit the door again when someone opened it.  
  
Light shined from the other side of the door, and we could tell who our 'savior' was. He was some old man with wild white hair. He would probably have been as tall as the Larzalere people, but he was hobbled over with age.  
  
"What's all this racket? You kids! Get out of my cellar! Get on! Go!"  
  
We scrambled out the door and found Ben waiting for us.  
  
"Hey! I found him! That's the guy! That's Newbear!" He yelled enthusiastically.  
  
"Oh great..." Davis murmured.  
  
"These are your friends? Hooligans!" Newbear spat at us.  
  
"Yeah, these are them!"  
  
"What's with their clothes? Too poor to afford ones that fit? What'd you do, go thieving through some older kids crap?"  
  
"No. Larzalere messed up our ages! These are our clothes! He just made us younger!" I glared at him. How dare he say that I was a thief!  
  
"Well you look foolish! I won't deal with them until they get some good clothes!"  
  
"Where are we supposed to get better ones?" asked Davis. "We haven't seen any shops or anything!"  
  
"What about your magical wardrobe, Mr. Newbear? Couldn't they get some clothes there? You let me have some when I was here last..."  
  
"That's because I liked you, boy! I don't like these hooligans!"  
  
"Please?"  
  
There was a long period of silence where Newbear and Ben just stared at each other, but then the silence was broken.  
  
"Fine! But they better not take more than one set of clothing!"  
  
We were led to another room with a large wooden wardrobe in it. When we opened it, we found a whole lot of clothes that were the right size for us. I chose a green t-shirt and khaki pants, and davis found a blue and white t- shirt and a pair of jeans. He also readjusted his goggles so they would fit his head. I kept my hat. I couldn't part with it, even if it was too big.  
  
We changed into our new clothes, and then we had a talk with Newbear. We told him the events up until now, and he sat staring at us the entire time.  
  
"So, we were hoping you'd be able to help us somehow," I finished, "since Ben said that you would be able to."  
  
"That damn Larzalere. You do realize what he's going to make your little girl friend do, don't you?"  
  
We shook our heads.  
  
"Ignorant fools! You're even stupider than I thought you were!"  
  
"What's he up to, Mr. Newbear?" Ben asked.  
  
"He's obsessed with beautiful things, teenybopper. If it's pretty, he has to have it for his collection."  
  
"So what you're saying is he's going to put Kari with all his other pretty things?" Davis asked.  
  
"No! You stupid fool, you don't collect people!" He spat at Davis. "You marry people!"  
  
"Oh." Davis sighed. "I get it now. Wait a second! You mean he's going to MARRY KARI?!?"  
  
"That must have been what she agreed to!" It was all making sense to me now! Poor Kari! That was probably the worst decision she had to make in her life! "We've got to save her before she has to go through with that!"  
  
"Mr. Newbear, do you think you could help us?" Ben pleaded. "Please?"  
  
"Well, normally, I wouldn't help these jerks for anything!"  
  
"Awww!" We all moaned at the same time.  
  
"But, since you're fighting against that damned Larzalere, I think I'll help you out, but you have to do something for me first."  
  
"Name it! We'll do anything!"  
  
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Sorry, it's been awhile since I've written anything, so I hope this will make up for lost time! Hope you liked it! 


	14. Davis

Disclaimer: Do not own Digimon!  
  
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"Well?" I asked. "What is it?"  
  
Newbear looked at me. "So impatient..."  
  
"We're very sorry, Newbear, but we would very much like to know." TK apologized, even though the guy didn't need to be apologized to.  
  
"A long time ago, I was a lot like that damned Larzalere, but his power and greed drove him insane!"  
  
"Well, duh..." I mumbled under my breath.  
  
"He robbed me of my powers and banished me to live in this wretched hole!"  
  
"How did he do that?" TK asked.  
  
"He challenged me to a fight. I accepted, although I knew he was too damn powerful. Even his own brother was not a match for him, so how could I possibly stand up to him?"  
  
"You didn't win." Ben sighed.  
  
"No, I didn't." He laughed bitterly at us. "What was your first clue?"  
  
We weren't amused.  
  
"The fight went on for a long time, although you wouldn't understand our concept of time even if I explained it to you. When I was defeated, he stole my power and imprisoned it within a blue orb and hid it in the highest mountain as far away from here as he could put it."  
  
"Well, why don't you just go and get it?" I asked.  
  
"I can't leave!" He slammed his fists on a nearby table. "I can go about ten feet away from my home before an invisible force field is activated and pushes me back!"  
  
"Then how'd we get here?" Veemon asked.  
  
"The force field only activates for me, numskull..."  
  
"Hey! It was a good question! Don't call him that!" I yelled at him.  
  
"Do you want me to help you or not, loud-mouth?" He gave me a bad look, and I gave him a bad look right back!  
  
"Uh, what do you want US to do, Mr. Newbear?" TK tried to smooth things over again, but I could tell that the guy was getting impatient with us.  
  
"Go and get that orb!" He yelled at us.  
  
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" I asked sarcastically. "We don't have any idea where this mountain is!"  
  
"I have just enough power left to get you there..."  
  
Newbear's hands started to turn some freaky color, and I was just about to say something when everything went really foggy.  
  
"Hey!" I yelled just before our surroundings completely changed. I looked around. We were at the bottom of this really weird looking mountain. It was enormous!  
  
"I guess this is the mountain..." TK said.  
  
"I guess so. Not much of a mountain if you ask me." I said. "You know, frankly, I'm not totally convinced this Newbear guy's power really is there at all. I think he just wanted to get rid of us!"  
  
"Well, maybe." TK sighed. "Hey, did you notice that before we got here, his hands turned green?"  
  
"Yeah, I saw that. What do you think that means?"  
  
"Well, maybe that's how they do magic. What do you think?"  
  
"I think you're on to something there." I agreed.  
  
"Um, guys?" Ben tapped me on the shoulder from behind.  
  
"Yeah, what is it?" I turned around and saw what it was that he had seen.  
  
We were completely surrounded by odd looking duck people with sharp spears. 


	15. Kari

Disclaimer: Never owned Digimon ever.  
  
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To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. I expected some horribly misshapen/disgusting/nightmarish face, you know, like "Phantom of the Opera" horrible. He was actually kind of handsome; well, if you could get past the long scar going from the top right side of his head down the bottom left side.  
  
He had dark brown eyes and even darker hair with a long face and nose. Not exactly my type, but not bad either.  
  
"Do you see what he did to me?" He asked. "How he brought repulsiveness to my beautiful world! He marred perfection!"  
  
"Who? Who are you talking about?"  
  
He stared into my eyes and told me a story. For some strange reason, I felt as if I could actually see what he was telling me about, but it was probably something he was doing to me, like hypnosis or something similar. Anyway, the story went like this:  
  
"A long time ago, when I first took the throne, I had a younger brother named Unev. He was jealous and resentful of me and wished the throne for himself. One day, he came up to me and said 'Larzalere, you are not fit for that throne! I can not allow you to bring our land to ruin!' He wasn't right in the head, of course. He challenged me then and there! I had full support from our sister, Alma, but he was alone.  
  
We fought for days on the battlefield, and I was winning, but I was also beginning to weaken. Then came the most devastating blow he could have wrought upon me. He damaged my face, my beautiful face! In my anger and rage, I fought heroically, and when the last hit that would destroy that traitor, he begged for his life like a dog! Now, I'm a very merciful person, as you will find out, so I spared his life.  
  
I stripped him of his powers and banished him to the farthest realm of our kingdom, and I haven't had any serious trouble from him since, but this scar, this hideous scar, is a reminder of that fight that I have to live with day after day! And that is why I wear this mask!"  
  
The "story haze" lifted off of me and I was back in the dining room. Frankly, the story was a little bit... melodramatic. He seemed a little full of himself, but I'd never say that to his face, no matter how "grotesque" and "marred" it was.  
  
He put the mask back on and turned away from me. "You and your pet may go back to your room now, Hikari. You will be escorted."  
  
When we got back to my room, I turned to Gatomon. "Was that the worst story ever?"  
  
"Yeah! I couldn't wait for it to be over!" She jumped over to the window. "It's a long way down, Kari..."  
  
I joined her at the window and looked down. It was insane to try and escape through the window! It looked like we were about 10 stories high! "Gatomon, I don't think I can jump that far and not squash when I hit the bottom."  
  
"Well, who said anything about jumping?" She went over to the bed and started dragging the sheets and blanket off. "Haven't you ever watched those old movies where the beautiful princess is engaged to an evil old man and she has to make an escape rope out of sheets and escape out the window?"  
  
"No, I must have missed that one..." I started to help her knot the sheets. There was a surprising amount of them, but there weren't quite enough. It didn't reach nearly far enough.  
  
"Well, what do we do now?" I said, slumping back down on the bed.  
  
"We can't give up now!" Gatomon started tearing down the curtains. "We can use these! And those things over the bed!"  
  
"The canopy?" I got up and pulled down everything we could find to lengthen our rope. When we finally decided that it was long enough, it was time to try it out.  
  
"Kari, maybe I should go first, in case something happens..."  
  
"Don't worry... besides, you're lighter than me, so even if you did go first, we wouldn't know if it would hold me!" I climbed up onto the window ledge with rope in hand. "Wish me luck!"  
  
"Good luck." Gatomon said as I began my descent towards the ground.  
  
I tried really hard to not look down, just at my feet. It was a bit uncomfortable doing this in a dress for two reasons. The first was that it was so big it made maneuvering hard, and second was that you never know who might be down on the ground below looking up.  
  
I was got pretty far before I noticed something was wrong. I could feel the rope slipping, and I looked up to see one of the knots was coming undone! I climbed as fast as I could to get back up to the knot in time, but it came all the way undone. I had just enough time to grab the end of the remaining rope.  
  
There I was, literally at the end of my rope, hanging on for dear life!  
  
"Gatomon!" I yelled. Gatomon looked out the window down at me.  
  
"Kari, are you all right?" She asked.  
  
"What do you think? Come down here and help me!" She slowly creeped down the rope towards me. She was halfway there when the knot above me started to come undone. "Gatomon, hurry!"  
  
She got to the loose knot and tightened it. "There! Nothing to worry about!"  
  
I sighed. "Good! I'll try and go back up..." I heard a rip and looked up. The sheet I was holding on to was ripping apart in the middle!  
  
"Go slowly..." Gatomon warned. 


	16. TK

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon!  
  
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"Mwackawack!" I don't really know what that means, but I do know that it wasn't good for us. The weird creatures we had run into had taken us to their village. I know that Davis described them as "Duck People", but let me be the one to get more descriptive. He was right about one thing, though. They do look like ducks.  
  
Their heads look like a fatter duck head, and they have these, well, not really feathers, but they sort of looked like feathers, on the back of their heads sticking up. I suppose you could call it a kind of plumage. On their long, skinny necks are some multicolored rings. We learned later that the amount of rings an individual has, the better their status in the village.  
  
They're rather fat in the mid-section, and have small, wing-like arms, although I doubt they could fly anywhere. They also have rings on their stomachs, too, which they receive after doing something heroic, or something like that. There wasn't any kind of tail on them as you would expect a person who looks like a duck would have, but I think that's because they're more man than duck. They have short, stubby feet with no toes, and they're really short, although we were short at the time too, so we were on even ground.  
  
We were herded back to the village being threatened with really pointy spears, and they weren't afraid to poke us a couple of times. Right at that moment we were sitting in the middle of town in a small, fenced in area with several duck guards surrounding us.  
  
"Come on, let us go! We're not going to hurt you!" Davis kept telling them, though it really wasn't working. They didn't speak the same language. They kept saying to us, "Dawga mack sackalaw!" At least, that's what it sounded like.  
  
"Mwackawack!" was repeated throughout the crowd gathered around at a distance from our prison, and we could see them parting to let a very important looking duck person through. He had twice as many head feathers as most of the other duck people, and far more neck and stomach rings. He looked very old, and walked with a big, twisty stick. He was followed by a younger looking duck, who kept quiet throughout our encounter.  
  
As he approached us, I could tell that he must have been very highly regarded in the duck society because our guard ducks all bowed to him. He stopped at our fence. "Do you work for Larzalere?"  
  
"Hey! You speak our language! Cool! Hey, how about letting us out of here?" Davis asked him.  
  
The old duck responded by hitting him in the head with his stick, from now on fondly referred to as 'The Whacking Stick'. "Answer the question!"  
  
"No, sir, we do not work for Larzalere." Ben said.  
  
He stared at us awhile before lowering The WS over Ben's head. "Then why do you speak the language of the devil?"  
  
"Why do you?" I replied. I probably shouldn't have, since my head really hurt after that. I think he enjoyed whacking us with that thing.  
  
"I am the Wise Komano, I must know things that my fellow Komanos must not know in case He should return for more destruction."  
  
"We haven't done anything wrong! Why can't we be let go?" Patamon asked. Since he could fly, he had been tied up and placed in the corner of our fence prison.  
  
"You were found near the Forbidden Mountain! We could not allow you to enter and release the evil that is hidden there."  
  
"What evil?" Veemon asked. "We thought that...."  
  
"A long time ago, when I was but a wee Komano, a terrible war took place. My tribe lived on the mountain. We did not care about what happened with the rest of the world as long as we were left alone. And then, They came.  
  
Their battles scorched the land and forced my people to flee from their homes. When at last victory was achieved, we thought it would be all right to go back to our homes and rebuild, but the one known as Larzalere was waiting for us there.  
  
He said, 'You may not return to this site without unleashing doom upon your kind. You must leave this place!' He said he would come again one day and make sure we weren't meddling with what was up there. We didn't listen, and stayed on the mountain.  
  
When he came back, we tried standing up to him, but he was too powerful for us. As punishment, he took our strongest warriors and turned them into hideous monsters that worked only for him, and we were sent away from our homes. He told us that that was only a taste of his power.  
  
Once a month, he sends someone to come and collect a due from us, whatever he sees fit to take. We are suffering under him as it is, so you see, we can not allow anyone to go up there, for if he found out, we would be punished even worse."  
  
"That's terrible!" I said. "How could someone do that to you?"  
  
"But we have to go up there!" Davis yelled. "We just have to! There's something up there that can help us get rid of Larzalere!"  
  
The Wise Komano looked away. "Yugalucks, you have no idea what is up on that mountain. There are evils there that you can not imagine. The land has changed into a harsh environment filled with terrible creatures and dangers."  
  
"If it's so terrible, then how could you live up there?" Ben asked.  
  
"It was once beautiful before the war," the Wise Komano sighed. "Besides, it was our home. We thought we could make it like it was before."  
  
"Please, you have to let us go up there." Davis said.  
  
"Why should I do that?"  
  
"Because it's our only hope! A very good friend of ours is in danger! We have to save her!" Davis pleaded.  
  
"Absolutely not! Since I see that you are NOT working for Larzalere, we will not have you executed."  
  
"Well that's a relief," I said. I managed to dodge the WS shot.  
  
"But since I can not allow you to go to the mountain, you will remain prisoners until further notice!" He tapped me on the head with with the WS before walking way. The younger Komano stood looking at us for a second longer before turning and following him.  
  
The rest of the day went by uneventful, except for being stared at by some really young Komanos. It was dark and we were just about to fall asleep when we heard a noise.  
  
I sat up first. "Hey, who's..."  
  
"Shh!!!" came the answer from the locked door of our fence. I could hear a key turning in the lock, and in an instant the door was open.  
  
"Hey, you're that duck!" Davis said, sitting up. "That duck that was following that older duck!"  
  
The young Komano gave him a puzzled look, then said, "You must follow me. Wise Komano will be very angry with me when he finds out, but I want to help you!"  
  
We all followed him silently out of the village, and then confronted him.  
  
"OK, so who are you?" I asked.  
  
"My name is Magwa, I am the Wise Komano's apprentice."  
  
"So why are you helping us, Magwa?" Davis asked.  
  
"You said you could help us. Please explain."  
  
"We know this all powerful man named Newbear, but his powers were taken from him and put in that mountain," Ben explained. "He said that if we got them back for him, he'd help us destroy Larzalere!"  
  
Magwa thought for a moment. "Are you sure everything is as it seems?"  
  
"What do you mean by that? Are you saying Newbear's lying to us?" Davis angrily asked.  
  
"I'm just saying, can you trust him?"  
  
"Of course we can trust him!" Ben said. "He's the nicest man I've ever met!"  
  
"Fine then, I'll believe you." He paused. "You will need a guide up the mountain, someone who knows what it is you're looking for."  
  
"And I suppose that's you?" Otamamon asked. For such a big mouth, Otamamon was surprisingly quiet. It was the first thing I had heard him say all day.  
  
"Yes. When I was a child Komano, I was reckless and adventurous, and I went up the mountain. I know what you can expect up there, and I know where this 'power' is. I will guide you if you promise me that you will get rid of Larzalere."  
  
"We promise." Ben spoke for the group.  
  
"Sagalack! Then let's go." Magwa said. 


	17. Davis

"Wow, some mountain." I said.  
  
"It's all burnt up on one side," Raidramon commented.  
He and Patamon had armor digivolved so we could get to  
the mountain quicker.  
  
"Come along, we must go quickly so we won't be seen,"  
Magwa instructed from behind me. He was riding with me  
on Raidramon. Ben and Otamamon were on Pegasusmon with  
TK.  
  
We started up the mountain, but it seemed like the  
mountain stretched up forever. The air was getting  
thinner, so it was harder to breath. Add the smell of  
smoke and decay, and you get one rotten hike up a  
mountain.  
  
It felt like we had been climbing for hours, and all  
we could see around us were dead, blackened trees and  
not much else. "Aww, how much longer?" I muttered.  
  
"We're almost there, but..." Magwa started to say.  
  
"But what?" I asked.  
  
"Well, it's been too easy. We shouldn't have gotten so  
far without being detected."  
  
"Do you think we're walking into a trap?" TK asked.  
  
"Possibly. I'm not sure." We were silent for awhile,  
then Magwa jumped up saying, "Look! There it is!"  
  
"What? That hole?" I asked.  
  
"There is the entrance to the cave!" He jumped down  
off of Raidramon. "Let's go, gwackalack!"  
  
I climbed down and looked into the hole. I couldn't  
see anything. "It's so dark!" Ben came over beside me  
and threw a rock in. We didn't hear anything. "Well,  
do we just go in?"  
  
"Hey, what's that?" TK said. We turned around and  
looked at what he was talking about. In the distance,  
we could see flying creatures circling overhead.  
  
"Sgwack! Hurry! Don't let them see you!" Magwa yelled.  
It was too late, though. The little bat-thingys  
started swooping down at us.  
  
The few of those things were destroyed by our digimon,  
but before we could even congradulate them, thousands  
more came down from the very top of the mountain. The  
sky was darkened and the air was filled with the sound  
of beating wings... wow, very poetic!  
  
"Davis, there's too many of them!" Raidramon shouted  
to me.  
  
"What do we do?" I asked Magwa, trying to protect my  
head from the little creatures taloned feet.  
  
"Simple!" Magwa shouted to me. "We jump!"  
  
"Jump?!?!" I managed to say before being pushed down  
into the hole.  
  
It was pitch black. I couldn't tell if any of the  
others had gone down into the hole with me, the only  
thing I could tell was a sickening falling feeling. It  
wasn't like when I went down the shute back in  
Newbear's house; I at least had the feeling of  
something around me. This was a free-fall, and I felt  
like my stomach was being shifted around inside me. I  
wanted to yell, to recreate a feeling of existance  
other than falling, but I couldn't find a voice.  
  
Finally, I felt cold and wet, and I realized I had  
stopped falling and was now submerged in water. I swam  
to the surface and tried to find my way to shore. I  
finally felt a solid surface beneath my feet, and I  
crawled over to dry land, wondering how I could ever  
have taken for granted the ground. Of course, I  
immediately puked right after. You try falling and  
then swallowing gallons of water without throwing up!  
  
"Davis?" I heard Veemon's voice, and I scrambled along  
the ground to try and find him in the dark.  
  
"Hey! Buddy! There you are!" I yelled, overjoyed.  
  
"Hey, is that you?" TK asked.  
  
"Yeah. Where are you?" I said, grabbing ahold of  
Veemon and dragging him with me to try and find the  
others.  
  
"Over here! I have Patamon with me."  
  
"And I'm over here!" Ben said in the opposite  
direction.  
  
"Hawkwack." A light appeared and we could all see each  
other now in the dim glow of a fireball Magwa had  
created.  
  
"Woah, that's so cool!" I said. I looked around  
myself. I couldn't see the water I had landed in, and  
I wasn't wet, either. "This place is freaky."  
  
"Davis!" TK yelled.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look! We're not kids anymore! We're ourselves!"  
  
"Yes, there is an anti-magic bubble protecting this  
place to prevent magic being used to retrieve 'the  
power'." Magwa explained, "That means no outside  
forces can penetrate the cave. Only the forces within  
the bubble can occur. That means that as long as you  
are in here, you are as you were before any magic  
happened to you."  
  
"But, Ben's still a kid, and he's been here for a long  
time." TK said.  
  
"That's because I was this age when I first came here,  
and people don't age here." Ben said.  
  
Magwa sighed. "I still don't understand why we got  
here so easily. Something must be wrong back at  
Larzalere's castle, or else he would have spotted us  
right away. I expected much more resistance than  
that."  
  
"Well, hey, that's a good thing!" TK said. "At least,  
I think it's a good thing..."  
  
"So, which way do we go now, Mr. Guide?" I asked  
Magwa.  
  
He pointed. "We go off into the dark." 


	18. Kari

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any way! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
I started to pull myself back up the sheet-rope, but with every move I made, it just tore more and more.  
  
"Gatomon, this isn't working..."  
  
"Can you go in through another window?" She asked me. There was one below me, so I slid down a little and started to reach for the window ledge.  
  
RIP!  
  
The sheet finally tore all the way through, and I just managed to grab the ledge with my hand before falling.  
  
"KARI! Are you all right?"  
  
"Uh, fine..." I said, grabbing for the ledge with my other hand.  
  
"I'm going to come down to you, OK?"  
  
"Fine..." I hung on for dear life. I didn't want to think about what would happen if I fell. It was a long way down, and I could feel my grip loosening. "Gatomon, hurry up!"  
  
Gatomon crept her way down the rope and was inches above my head. "OK, grab my paw..."  
  
"Are you strong enough to pull me up?" I asked.  
  
"Sure!" she said enthusiastically. I grabbed her, and she pulled with all her strength to get me up onto the ledge.  
  
"Well, that wasn't so bad," I said, grinning. The next thing I know, I'm falling again. The ledge I had been sitting on had crumbled. Gee, great.  
  
"So this is it?" I thought to myself. "This is how I'm going to die? Falling out a window? How pathetic! Damn cheap sheets!"  
  
At first, I was too bitter to realize that I had stopped falling. And even when I did realize that I was floating upside down very far from the ground, I was more concerned about my dignity than to the reasons why I had stopped. I vainly tried to push my skirts away from my face and back towards my legs. It wasn't working very well, but there was no way I was going to let anyone see me in this akward position.  
  
A window opened near my head, and I felt myself being pulled back into the building.  
  
"My dear Hikari, what on earth were you doing?" asked Larzalere as he put me down on a sofa. "You were very lucky that I was able to sense your peril before it was too late." His tone surprised me. He actually sounded very sincere in his worry over me.  
  
I stared at him for a couple seconds, unable to come up with anything to say. "Uh, thanks."  
  
"You really shouldn't go out there," he said, stroking my face. Ick. "Next time, I might not be able to catch you. And that would be very bad, indeed."  
  
"Larzalere." I hadn't realized that Alma was in the room. She was standing by the door, a look of disgust across her face. "Can I speak to you?"  
  
Larzalere crossed the room to her, and they left through the door, leaving me alone on the couch. I was still in a state of shock over what had almost happened to me. I sat staring off into space a few moments before a thought crossed my mind. What was it they needed to talk about?  
  
I crept off the couch and snuck over to the door. I put my head down towards the crack to try and hear what it was they were talking about. I could only catch snippets of the conversation.  
  
"She can't be allowed to do things like that," Alma was saying.  
  
"But what you're suggesting... I can't do that," Larzalere said. "Not to her."  
  
Alma said something, but I couldn't quite make it out.  
  
"There's more to this one than just that," Larzalere said angrily.  
  
"What?" laughed Alma. "A personality?"  
  
"I wil not deny her that."  
  
"Humans aren't worth our time. They're so obsessed with freedom that they'll endanger their own lives just to obtain it, which is exactly what your precious little vixen in there tried to do. She'll never be content to stay here as your lapdog. You can't tame a beast that has already known freedom. She'll try escaping every chance she gets. Eventually, she'll probably get herself killed trying."  
  
"I know you're right," Larzalere sighed.  
  
I backed away from the door then. I wasn't quite sure what it was they were thinking about doing to me, but I knew that it couldn't be good. I could tell Alma resented me, and I was frightened of what she might do to me. I was creeping back towards the couch when I noticed a strange orb in the corner of the room.  
  
I walked over to it. It was sitting on a pedestal. I started to stare into it. "Oh, TK! Davis!" I could see the both of them, their digimon, a boy I didn't recognize, an Otamamon, and some strange, duck creature. They were all climbing up a mountain. Then I noticed that something wasn't quite right about them, but I couldn't think of why they didn't look right. I heard a door open behind me.  
  
"I see you've found the Orb of Sight," Larzalere said, coming up behind me. "It will show you anyone you want to see." Then, he noticed the boys. "Damnit. I didn't think they'd... Nevermind." He turned to me. "You, stay here." He left the room in a huff.  
  
"Quite a little tool, isn't it?" asked Alma, who entered the room.  
  
"Yes, it's very nice," I said suspiciously.  
  
She came over to me and placed a cloth over the Orb. "You know, it's how he found you."  
  
"What do you mean 'how he found me'?"  
  
"He used the Orb of Sight to find someone with extraordinary beauty, and it showed him you." She paused. "Of course, the Orb isn't entirely accurate. The images shown are altered based on a personal bias of the viewer and the person being showed. For instance, when it showed you to my brother, you were much prettier. And when it showed you your friends, they were mostly as you remembered them, even if it's not how they truly are right now."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.  
  
She laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know."  
  
Larzalere reentered the room. "The matter has been... taken care of. I'm sure there will be no further trouble."  
  
Alma began to leave the room, pausing a moment to whisper to her brother, "You should do it now. Pretty zombie girls listen to every command."  
  
After she had gone, Larzalere turned to me. "My Hikari, I must tell you that I do not desire losing you." The color in my face drained and I felt very cold as I thought about what I had overheard. "My sister thinks that I should erase your memories and make you my slave." Uh oh, here it comes. "But I do not think that that is necessary." I sighed a sigh of relief. "But, I can't let your act go unpunished, can I? The windows in your room shall be locked, and a forcefield placed around every exit, including the windows. I'm sorry, dear Hikari, but you've left me no choice."  
  
Crisis averted, at least for now, although I didn't know how long it would be before he changed his mind, if he ever did.  
  
Who needs windows anyway? Or a door, for that matter... 


End file.
